Get a boat they said, you will make friends they said. Lies

[BigAbe75]

Why not just make better use of the "Gatherings" forum found here. Usually, it's just the major gatherings that get posted here... but could easily be used to say "hey, I'll be at X location on Y date/time. Reply to the thread if you're planning to be there too and we'll meet up and float awhile".

 

[HangOutdoors]

Yeah people with interest. Obviously boating, but I mean there are things outside of boating. Like working on the boat, cleaning on the boat. and BBQing

Yes but the problem is, i dont want to meet up with a couple whose interests are completely outside of ours. It would be nice to have a couple few casual couple friends that would fill in the gaps in our life but not become an overbearing full time thing. Am i making sense ?

 

[Thunderseye]

Yes but the problem is, i dont want to meet up with a couple whose interests are completely outside of ours. It would be nice to have a couple few casual couple friends that would fill in the gaps in our life but not become an overbearing full time thing. Am i making sense ?

totally. but it is nice to have other people to meetup with on the water and chill, trash and yell at all the inconsiderate people who don't understand that you don't go flying by anchored boats feet away, especially into a cove lol

 

[HangOutdoors]

Well that is my point. WE are saying the same thing.

@BigAbe75 Yes the gatherings forum would work, but a true social app would have features, mechanisms, and other things a forum doesn't do really well. Let's say a social "Tinder Type" friends boating app would be just that. It compliments a forum such as this one. They are both 2 pieces to the puzzle.

 

[OCMD]

Wait until you are old like me. Kids gone, cousins and friends gone, everyone grew up too quick. But the 15 years or so growing up on boats was a blast. Now? Just the two of us? I want to sell the damn boat but she won't let me. "You spend all that time cleaning and waxing, but never take it out. Why not?" Because, my lady, I have become a curmudgeon. Stay away from me, everyone. I can entertain myself!

 

[Thunderseye]

Why not just make better use of the "Gatherings" forum found here. Usually, it's just the major gatherings that get posted here... but could easily be used to say "hey, I'll be at X location on Y date/time. Reply to the thread if you're planning to be there too and we'll meet up and float awhile".

Well that is my point. WE are saying the same thing.

@BigAbe75 Yes the gatherings forum would work, but a true social app would have features, mechanisms, and other things a forum doesn't do really well. Let's say a social "Tinder Type" friends boating app would be just that. It compliments a forum such as this one. They are both 2 pieces to the puzzle.

and could involve many other boaters that aren’t in this group.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Prime example. My girlfriends kids are going with their father for 10 days camping. FYI they live with us a week and with their Father a week. He lives about 2 miles away. It works out great for them and for the kids because they have both parents in their life full time.

We wanted to go boating this weekend, but then we looked at each other and decided not to, why? because it is the same ole thing. Plus we don't even have a spotter, so no watersports, so we go cruise, have a bottle of wine and some snacks, swim for a few and then we are done. Between our professional lives and her kids there isn't time to make any nor would we have a lot of time for full time all the time friends.

So I will be waxing and working on the boat in the driveway for a while. I have to believe there are more of us out there who feel the same thing.

Additionally I see alot of stupid out at the lakes, I am not interested in hanging out with those people either, I don't have the patience.

 

[BigAbe75]

Well that is my point. WE are saying the same thing.

@BigAbe75 Yes the gatherings forum would work, but a true social app would have features, mechanisms, and other things a forum doesn't do really well. Let's say a social "Tinder Type" friends boating app would be just that. It compliments a forum such as this one. They are both 2 pieces to the puzzle.

Lol... I'm getting too old for social apps....

You build it, and I'll try it out though.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Now that I am on a roll....... I would love to go out fishing in the boat but I have no one to go with. My brother who passed 20 years ago was my fishing buddy, we went all the time in the boat, wading in rivers and float tubing. I don't go anymore because of the same reasons above. It would be nice to hook up with some one who just wants to fish when we can schedule it.

 

[svana]

Nothing major to contribute aside from just saying that I can sympathize. I'm 30, wife's 34(?) and kidless. General folks we are around either have kids or are older/younger. So far folks on the boat have been the BIL/SIL with a kid, the MIL, or a buddy of ours who's our age and divorced/kidless (the anomaly lol).

 

[HangOutdoors]

I am sure there are alot of couples out there who would love to go boating but don't have a boat for many different reasons. That is also another segment that should be included.

 

[2kwik4u]

Boy, I'm on the other end of this.

I'll be 40 here in a few months. Wife just turned 43. We have a 2yr old and an 8yr old. All out friends are, well, our kids friends parents. All the people that used to be our friends are still friends but they've all got grown kids and don't want to deal with a toddler. They've got baseball and dance and 101 other things to do with their kids.

So our "boat friends" we've found are neighbors and other parents from our kids baseball and soccer and school circles. We have to WORK to get them out, and they're often in their early 30's and we just deal with the age difference and relate as best we can.

Hang in there @Thunderseye you'll find your people eventually. Just step out of your comfort zone and say hi. If it sticks, great you made some friends, if not, try again next week. They're out there.

 

[BigAbe75]

Boy, I'm on the other end of this.

I'll be 40 here in a few months. Wife just turned 43. We have a 2yr old and an 8yr old. All out friends are, well, our kids friends parents. All the people that used to be our friends are still friends but they've all got grown kids and don't want to deal with a toddler. They've got baseball and dance and 101 other things to do with their kids.

So our "boat friends" we've found are neighbors and other parents from our kids baseball and soccer and school circles. We have to WORK to get them out, and they're often in their early 30's and we just deal with the age difference and relate as best we can.

Hang in there @Thunderseye you'll find your people eventually. Just step out of your comfort zone and say hi. If it sticks, great you made some friends, if not, try again next week. They're out there.

As a couple... we have very few local friends. Similar in age and kids age to @2kwik4u . Like someone said... just having a hard time finding local folks that are in the same place (money, job, interests, kids, etc) that we are. Wife has quite a few friends, but so far I haven't jived much with the spouse or we haven't tried that hard. I have an hour commute to work, so work friends aren't really much in our social realm either.

All of our best friends as a family have been met in the last couple of years as a direct result of this forum and the Shelbyville gathering. We've met other folks that enjoy the outdoor toys as much as we do. (boat, camper, atvs) None of them live closer than an hour to us (and one family damn near 6 hrs)... but we still manage to see them all quite a few times a year, and keep up with each other via calls and texts.

I'll say this... once you find your people, I feel they'll be life-long relationships.

I suppose I would have said the same about my college/highschool friends, that I now talk to once every couple years... maybe. But, as you say, finding those with common interests will make a huge difference.

 

[drewkaree]

I'm certain I stumbled across an app a while ago for setting up a get together / raft up with other boaters, but now I can't find the dang thing. We're old enough that we have grandkids, although the vacation place is apparently far enough away that our kids don't want to come up often, and we are NOT gonna be babysitters for our vacation week and take the grandkids for them - we see them a ton when we're home, so either the kids gotta bring the grandkids up, or the wife and I enjoy our time with all our neighbors. Bunch of great people, we all have boats and enjoy them, and we all like hanging out.

I think it's really just that the wife and I bring a lot to the table

 

[Markk]

Yeah I mean if we are going to sit around and stare at our phones i would rather at least be on the water. Although we do take naps, play cards jam out. We got up early one morning anchored out, put the bow fillers in, blankets pillows, and watched the sunrise. Let her win a few games of phase ten.

If you’re go to is Phase 10, upgrade to Chicago Rummy. Same concept but better.

 

[Inthrustwetrust]

We are in a subdivision. We have plenty of neighbors, we hangout in the hood and grill out, but their little are too little to take on a boat supposedly

Neighbors sound lame. We are on the water almost every weekend with a 8 month old and a 4yr old. Bought the boat when the little one was 4 months old. Most our friends don’t have kids, pretty sure hanging out with us is the best birth control their is. We do a lot of sandbar time to make it easier on the kids. Little wind and the engine noise puts the little ones right to sleep.

I feel ya on the military thing and friends though. I feel like every time we make friends with a couple and we all have similar interests/get along it’s time for one of us to move.

 

[2kwik4u]

Neighbors sound lame. We are on the water almost every weekend with a 8 month old and a 4yr old. Bought the boat when the little one was 4 months old. Most our friends don’t have kids, pretty sure hanging out with us is the best birth control their is. We do a lot of sandbar time to make it easier on the kids. Little wind and the engine noise puts the little ones right to sleep.

I feel ya on the military thing and friends though. I feel like every time we make friends with a couple and we all have similar interests/get along it’s time for one of us to move.

Agreed.

We've had or youngest on the water since about 8 weeks old. Never too young!

 

[Babin Farms]

We too have had fewer & fewer people come out with us through the years. People are busy with everything else going on. That’s one of the reasons we went from a 25’ pontoon to our AR230. We have friends we have met on the river, see coworkers on their boats sometimes and still have a great time without taking anyone other than the wife & 2 kids(9-10). Don’t worry about others, just have a good time on yer own

 

[Sotally Tober]

Throw a pole on the back of your boat and pair it with a 5000 watt stereo.... I guarantee you will make friends =). In all honesty, I have met some of my best friends anchored out in Party Cove or at the Sand Bar. I'm also active duty Navy with 21 years of service, turn 40 in a few months and we tend to make new friends every time we take out the boat. Granted we waited to have our first and only son until we were in our late 30s. Now we reserve normal weekends for family boating time and then go crazy on Adult Only Holiday Weekends. We make it an effort to go on date nights with other like minded couples at least once a week. If not you fall into a rut that is so easy to fall into.

 

[redthumper9]

Sorry. Can't relate. This was our sandbar last weekend. There were at least this many (or more) kids not pictured